The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Friday sought to politically weaponise the Customs summons to Janam TV coordinating editor Anil Nambiar in a bid to put the State leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the dock in connection with the UAE consulate linked gold smuggling case.
The Customs had questioned Mr. Nambiar, a prominent presenter in the purportedly pro-BJP channel, at its Commissionerate in Kochi on Thursday.
The CPI(M) had taken considerable flak from the BJP earlier for the alleged association of the accused in the smuggling case with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s former Principal Secretary M. Sivasankar.
The report that the Customs had questioned Mr. Nambiar on his alleged association with the accused in the case allowed the CPI(M) to hit back at the BJP.
The CPI(M) State secretariat said the depositions of the accused had revealed that Mr. Nambiar had directed them to tell the Customs that the incriminating air cargo consignment that contained 30 kg of contraband gold was personal freight and not diplomatic baggage.
The CPI(M) said Mr Nambiar’s position was consistent with that of V. Muraleedharan, the Minister of State for External Affairs.
Mr Muraleedharan had floated the same theory repeatedly. He seemed to be in denial despite incontrovertible evidence that the accused had smuggled gold in trade quantities into the country from Dubai in air consignments addressed to the UAE consulate here.
The CPI(M) asked whether Mr. Muraleedharan’s statement was a cue to the accused to lie to investigators. It said Sandeep Nair, another suspect in the case, was a registered BJP member. The BJP could not shrug off its guilt of association with the accused in the case by ‘lying’ that it had nothing to do with Janam TV.
BJP State general secretary George Kurien said the CPI(M) had attempted to create a bogus scandal. Mr Muraleedharan had merely pointed out that the air freight imported by the UAE consulate did match the definition of ‘diplomatic bag’ exempted from customs inspection as per the Vienna covenant.
Mr Kurien said the BJP was not answerable for Mr Nambiar’s actions. He was not a member of the party. Janam TV was privately owned. Mr Nambiar, an independent journalist, was a professional hire.
The BJP had no stake in Janam TV.
Meanwhile, Mr. Nambiar told a television channel that he was taking a long sabbatical from Janam TV and would be back after he cleared his name with the Customs.
